Joel’s Red Admiral Butterfly Pack – WYG Special

For a little more information on each of Joel’s recommended species, please read as follows…

Nettle Leaved Bellflower

Known as the blue foxglove. A stately woodland plant or garden border specimen. The alternate name throatwort is derived from an old belief that C. trachelium is a cure for sore throat, and the species name trachelium refers to its use as treatment of the throat in folk medicine. Other folknames include Our Lady’s Bells because the color blue was identified with the Virgin Mary’s scarf, veil, or shawl; Coventry Bells because C. trachelium was especially common in fields around Coventry; and “Bats-in-the-Belfry” or in the singular “Bat-in-the-Belfry”, because the stamens inside the flower were like bats hanging in the bell of a church steeple.

Nettle Leaved Bellflower

Teasel

A golden blaze in the May meadows and banks. Basal rosettes of leaves deeply lobed or toothed (dent de lion), flowers are composed of bright yellow ray – florets. This plant can be found growing in temperate regions of the world, in lawns, on roadsides, on disturbed banks and shores of water ways, and other areas with moist soils. T. officinale is considered a weed, especially in lawns and along roadsides, but not by us!  It is sometimes used as a medical herb and in food preparation the flowers are used to make dandelion wine, the greens are used in salads, the roots have been used to make a coffee substitute (when baked and ground into powder). Common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn into round balls of silver tufted fruits that disperse in the wind. These balls are called “blowballs” or “clocks. It is food for the caterpillars of several Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Even though dandelion pollen is of poor nutritional quality for honey bees, they readily consume it., The roots can be used to make a brown dye and the flowers can make a yellow or green dye.

Teasel

Hemp Agrimony

A tall stately plant with masses of white-pink flowers, an excellent butterfly plant attracting large numbers in late summer. Also known as Holy Rope and Raspberries and Cream, Hemp-agrimony is a tall, perennial plant found in damp grassland, marshes, fens and wet woodlands and along riverbanks. The frothy, pinkish flower clusters appear from July to September and are very attractive to all kinds of insects.

Hemp Agrimony